Fort Recovery tops Patriots in 3 (10/04/06)

FORT RECOVERY - The Patriots played with as much fire as they have in a long time. Fort Recovery simply had more firepower.

Visiting Jay County kept the games fairly close, but the Indians still swept their way to a 25-15, 25-18, 25-21 victory.

"We saw even more of that type of positive energy Saturday (in the Olympic Athletic Conference Tournament)," said JCHS coach Fred Medler, whose team dropped to 11-16. "One of our goals since day one has been attitude. As the season has progressed ... that positive attitude of playing together has been getting better."

Even with that energy, the Patriots couldn't do enough to slow down Fort Recovery's attack. Led by senior middle hitter Tiff Gaerke, bound for the University of Dayton, the Indians racked up 46 kills compared to just 27 for Jay County.

"(Gaerke) is just a machine," said FRHS coach Diana Rammel, whose team defeated a pair of state-ranked squads in Saturday's Crestview Invitational and was 18th in this week's Division IV voting. "She just does everything. She gets a kill just about every time she's up. She's tough to stop."

Gaerke showed that dominance in the second game, the only one which the Indians (12-6) dominated from start to finish. After missing a tip which put Jay County up 2-1, she racked up four consecutive kills and five in a span of six points.

Her stretch of unstoppable attacking pushed the Indians to an 8-3 lead, and the advantage never slipped below three points the rest of the way.

"That's the difference tonight," said Medler of Gaerke, who finished with 24 kills, 10 digs, four blocks and three points. "She's for real up and down the net. She can go anywhere she wants to go. She knows where to hit the ball when she's on the right side. She knows where to hit the ball when she's on the left side. She doesn't hit the same shot twice."

The teams were in a tight battle for the first 11 points of the opening game before the Wenning sisters combined to increase the Fort Recovery advantage. Lauren and Kinsey Wenning (nine kills) each had two kills during an 8-1 Indian run which pushed the lead from one point to 14-6. The Indians pushed ahead by as many as 10 points, with Gaerke hammering a kill inside the 10-foot line to end the game-one victory.

Game three was tight most of the way with ties on nine different occasions - the last tie was at 13-13 - and five lead changes. Kills from Gaerke and Sarah Braun along with a pair of Patriot attack errors pushed Fort Recovery ahead 16-13.

Jay County pulled within one again at 18-17 only to have the Indians answer with a 5-1 run. Gaerke and Braun (three blocks) combined again for a stuff block to end the match.

Medler said he was happy with the effort from his Patriots, who finished second in the OAC tournament Saturday.

"I'm glad we competed as well as we did," said Medler, whose team has dropped six of eight matches since defeating Blackford Sept. 14. "And that's what we've been doing. (The Indians) are a very good team."

Senior Theresa Reinhart led Jay County with team highs of 13 digs, six points and two aces. She finished a perfect 12-of-12 serving, and also had five kills.

Erica Clark finished with 16 assists and six points, and Shelby Rines had six kills and six digs. Sarah Westgerdes totaled 10 kills.

Rammel, who took over the Tribe coaching job Sept. 18, has made some lineup changes over the last few weeks. While she said the outside attack still hasn't reached its potential, the defense has been improved.

She moved Vicki Roessner, who started the season as an outside attacker, back to libero. Roessner had a team-high 13 digs against Jay County.

"She brings a lot more digs - a lot more consistency getting the ball up," said Rammel, who at times went to a two-person serve receive with Roessner and Gaerke alone on the back line. "She reads the ball well. She's a great serve receiver and I have her out there all the time on serve receive."

Abby Niekamp sent 70 percent of her assists Gaerke's way, finishing with 34. Brittany Brackman scored eight points, Niekamp had seven and Rachel Stahl and Joanna Snyder each added six.

Junior varsity

Fort Recovery dominated the opening game and never trailed in the match as it rolled to a 25-2, 25-14 victory over the Patriots.

Jay County lost the serve on the opening point of the match, and Kelsey Wuebker refused to give the ball back. She served 13 consecutive points before the Patriots got on the board. Chelsea Klenke followed with four service points, and Heather Schmackers added five more to finish off game one.

The Indians grabbed a 15-3 lead in game two en route to the win.

Wuebker had team highs of 17 points, 11 assists and four aces for Fort Recovery. She also had three digs and one kill.

Nicole Pottkotter had 10 kills and one block, and Schmackers added seven digs and six points. Kelly Sudhoff and Anne Koesters each finished with three kills.

Amy Powell had three points and one ace for the Patriots, who had just six service points for the match. Lacey Randolph came up with two digs, Ashley Langenkamp had two assists and Kelsey Wood added two kills.[[In-content Ad]]